SUMMARY
MANILA, Philippines – A marine biologist who led the recent marine scientific research (MSR) in Pag-asa (Thitu) Island estimated that the damage on coral reefs in the isolated cays may have been going on for ““several years already.”
“The ones that are underwater, from, let’s say, 7 meters deep to around 20 meters deep away from the pile of rubble itself, I think those dead corals have been dead for some time, for a long time,” Jonathan Anticamara, professor at the University of the Philippines Institute of Biology, said in a Rappler Talk interview on Friday, May 10.
The scientist said the color of algae and its prevalence on the ocean floor are indications that the corals have been damaged for some time.
“[T]he ocean floor is now covered with many, many algae,” Anticamara sa…